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MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL

Registered charity 1063740 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL / ST JOHN'S SCHOOL

Provision of Schooling

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£31.8m
Latest spending
£30.1m
Registered
1997
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £1.7m for the year, with total incoming resources of £31.8m and total charitable expenditure of £29.7m. Free unrestricted reserves stood at £7.5m, which is above the stated policy target of approximately £6m (three months' non-discretionary expenditure).

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: School Fees (92% of income)
“The principal source of income was school fees, which accounted for £29.5m (92%)” — page 14
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Fundraising cost ratio: 80.0% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“£0.5m (2024: £0.7m) was raised through the Development Office for bursaries and School development, with £0.4m total cost of raising funds (2024: £0.4m).” — page 14
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £7.5m)
“The School aims to maintain adequate free, unrestricted reserves to respond to unforeseen events and to meet up to three months’ non-discretionary expenditure (approximately £6m).” — page 15
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Merchant Taylors’ School Enterprises Limited
“The Charity has a wholly owned non-charitable subsidiary, Merchant Taylors’ School Enterprises Limited, which manages the School's facilities when not in use by the School.” — page 4
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Saffery LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

10 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold); recorded price paid £360k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Total income
£31.8m
Total spending
£30.1m
Cost of raising funds
£357k
Reserves (reported)
£48.3m
Employees
398

Reported reserves equal ~19.3 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 1.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Hertfordshire

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/08/2025£31.8m£30.1m
31/08/2024£31.4m£29.1m
31/08/2023£29.2m£26.7m
31/08/2022£26.8m£24.9m
31/08/2021£26.0m£23.4m

Common questions

Is MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £1.7m for the year, with total incoming resources of £31.8m and total charitable expenditure of £29.7m. Free unrestricted reserves stood at £7.5m, which is above the stated policy target of approximately £6m (three months' non-discretionary expenditure). Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Saffery LLP.

Who funds MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL?

Funders whose own accounts filings name MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL as a grant recipient include MERCHANT TAYLORS' EDUCATIONAL TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
MERCHANT TAYLORS' EDUCATIONAL TRUSTFY2023£225kbursaries
MERCHANT TAYLORS' EDUCATIONAL TRUSTFY2022£225kbursaries

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION (HANADIV) EUROPE1£898k
THE JD FOUNDATION1£561k
THE MONTEFIORE ENDOWMENT1£194k
THE ANGLO-AMERICAN CHARITY LIMITED1£91k
THE MARCUS MARGULIES CHARITABLE TRUST1£72k
UK CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS LTD1£66k
THE CHARLES WOLFSON CHARITABLE TRUST1£50k
THE PEARS FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION1£50k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with MERCHANT TAYLORS' EDUCATIONAL TRUST.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
MERCHANT TAYLORS SCHOOL£31.8m——unclear80.0%no doubt
MERCHANT TAYLORS' EDUCATIONAL TRUST FY2025£336k—0below—no doubt
THE LONDON SCHOOL OF JEWISH STUDIES FY2025£1.8m——unclear—no doubt
COLLEGE FRANCAIS BILINGUE DE LONDRES LTD FY2025£11.1m——above—no doubt
MERCHANT TAYLORS' CONSOLIDATED CHARITIES FOR THE POOR FY2025£435k—0unclear—no doubt
THE MERCHANT TAYLORS' BOONE'S CHARITY FY2025£2.0m—0unclear—no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.